As an example of a wireless communication system to which the present invention is applicable, a 3rd generation partnership project long term evolution (3GPP LTE) (hereinafter, referred to as “LTE”) communication system is described in brief.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a network structure of an E-UMTS as an exemplary wireless communication system. An evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (E-UMTS) is an advanced version of a legacy universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) and basic standardization thereof is currently underway in the 3GPP. E-UMTS may be referred to as a long term evolution (LTE) system. For details of the technical specifications of UMTS and E-UMTS, reference can be made to Release 7 and Release 8 of “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network”.
Referring to FIG. 1, E-UMTS includes a user equipment (UE), evolved Node Bs (eNode Bs or eNBs), and an access gateway (AG) which is located at an end of an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) and connected to an external network. The eNBs may simultaneously transmit multiple data streams for a broadcast service, a multicast service, and/or a unicast service.
One or more cells are present per eNB. A cell is configured to use one of bandwidths of 1.44, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz to provide a downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) transmission service to multiple UEs. Different cells may be configured to provide different bandwidths. The eNB controls data transmission and reception to and from a plurality of UEs. Regarding DL data, the eNB transmits DL scheduling information to notify a corresponding UE of a time/frequency domain within which data is to be transmitted, coding, data size, and hybrid automatic repeat and request (HARQ)-related information. In addition, regarding UL data, the eNB transmits UL scheduling information to a corresponding UE to inform the UE of an available time/frequency domain, coding, data size, and HARQ-related information. An interface for transmitting user traffic or control traffic between eNBs may be used. A core network (CN) may include the AG and a network node for user registration of the UE. The AG manages mobility of the UE on a tracking area (TA) basis, each TA including a plurality of cells.
Although wireless communication technology has been developed up to LTE based on wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), demands and expectations of users and providers continue to increase. In addition, since other radio access technologies continue to be developed, new advances in technology are required to secure future competitiveness. For example, decrease of cost per bit, increase of service availability, flexible use of a frequency band, simplified structure, open interface, appropriate power consumption of a UE, etc. are required.